YORK - A 71-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday in York-Poquoson Circuit Court in connection with the sexual assault of a child more than 30 years ago. Franklin Gootee, of Yorktown, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual battery in connection with the sexual assault of a minor that took place in York County in 1981. As part of a plea agreement additional charges of object sexual penetration and abduction also stemming from the 1981 case were dismissed. Gootee had been scheduled for a jury trial on the charges Friday.

Former Old Dominion football players Reid Evans and Markell Wilkins received suspended sentences Monday in Norfolk Circuit Court, stemming from a sexual assault case in an ODU dorm in June 2012. Evans and Wilkins pled guilty, via Alford plea, to sexual battery. Evans pled guilty to two counts of sexual battery, Wilkins to one count. Evans was sentenced to 24 months for the convictions, with all but time served suspended, provided he remains on good behavior for three years and has no contact with the victims.

Dear Tom and Ray: Oftentimes, I charge my mobile phone or iPod using the cigarette lighter in my car. Does that do any damage to the battery, like limit its life span? Should I stop or should everyone be charging their devices via their cigarette lighter instead of sucking energy out of the power lines where we live? Tom Tom: By jeebers! You've solved the energy crisis, Tom! Ray: Um, not really. It's not harmful to charge your devices in the car, but you're ultimately using gasoline to do it. Tom: The car's battery is an energy-storage device.

James R. Croft Jr., 20, of the first block of Blackwater Lane, was convicted Wednesday in General District Court of assault and battery for stabbing a man March 25. Croft received a year's suspended jail sentence and was ordered to pay restitution to the victim. Police said Croft stabbed the 21-year-old man in the chest during a fight at a party.

After losing to Washington in the 1991 regular season and again in the NFC playoffs, Coach Jerry Glanville of the Atlanta Falcons isn't particularly fond of the Redskins and Coach Joe Gibbs. Glanville isn't particularly fond of Interstate Batteries, the company that sponsors Gibbs' NASCAR team, either. Glanville said he's going bring a receipt to RFK Stadium this Sunday and ask Gibbs for a refund on an Interstate battery he said he had to buy last Sunday. "I was driving my lucky 1950 Mercury to the game last Sunday and my battery went dead," Glanville said.

Stalled cars with dead batteries are a potential cold-weather hazard. Knowing the correct way to jump-start a dead auto battery could save motorists from serious eye injuries or possible blindness. A recent U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission survey reported nearly 7,000 eye injuries from batteries. Individuals are encouraged to wear safety goggles when working with or around cars and car batteries and to know the following safety precautions: Wear eye protection. Keep sparks, flames and cigarettes away from batteries at all times.

A Hampton man has been charged with three counts of rape and sexual battery of a 12-year-old girl. Mark D. Heroux of Atwell Lane in Hampton, is accused of attacking the girl when he lived in Newport News in July 2005. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated battery, three counts of rape, three counts of indecent liberties with a minor and three counts of object sexual penetration, according to his arrest report in Hampton. Heroux, who was arrested at his home on Wednesday, has been turned over to Newport News police.

BATTERY OUTLET OF HAMPTON INC. Owners: Dick Uyhelyi and Mark Charalambous. Uyhelyi formerly worked as a sales manager for a local industrial supply company. Charalambous was previously a general contractor. Business: Sells batteries for anything from portable telephones to automobiles to fork lifts. They specialize in commercial and industrial batteries. Founded: November 1984 Location: 2815 George Washington Highway, Tabb Employees: Four full-time Philosophy: "Our business is based on service."

A Connecticut-based rechargeable battery manufacturer announced Monday it will invest $25 million and hire about 180 people for operations in Oakland Industrial Park's former Philip Morris building. Evercel Inc. president and chief executive Robert L. Kanode said the decision to locate its North American manufacturing facility in Newport News is the most significant step the company has faced. "This has been a long and sometimes difficult process for us," he said Monday. Dozens of state and local officials gathered in the vacant, 5-year-old building at 230 Picketts Line, in the northern part of the city, for Monday's announcement.

Virginia Tech running back Michael Holmes had two misdemeanor charges of assault and battery dismissed Thursday, and was found guilty of another assault and battery charge that was reduced from felony malicious wounding, according to a clerk in the Montgomery County General District court in Christiansburg. Holmes, 20, received a 12-month suspended jail sentence and was ordered to pay $13,403 in restitution to victim Antoine Barnes, the clerk said. Holmes, a native of Harrisonburg, must now wait to see if he's reinstated to play on Tech's football team.

Todd Burch pulled his sleek new luxury sedan out of his driveway in Smithfield and headed for the open road. He pressed the "go pedal" and the car punched forward seamlessly and soundlessly, hitting 40 mph in a heartbeat, the G-force pushing his passenger back in the seat. "The sound of silence, right?" said Burch, an engineer with New River Kinematics Inc. in Williamsburg. "It's the quietest car I've ever been in. I'll never go back to a gas-powered one. " His car is the all-electric Tesla Model S — a vehicle so rare that Burch says he's the first and sole owner of this model in all of Tidewater.

YORK — A 36-year-old York County man pleaded guilty Thursday in York-Poquoson Circuit Court in connection with a sexual assault, much of which was recorded in a call to 911 dispatchers as the victim tried to get help. Tyron A. Simpson pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual battery, which was reduced from a charge of forcible sodomy. Two other charges of abduction and misdemeanor assault and battery were dismissed. The charges stem from an incident on May 6 at a home off Goosley Road in Lackey when the victim, a female acquaintance of Simpson, came to his home after getting off work.

10 things TO do BEFORE the hurricane: • Know what you have. Take photos of your property, inside and out. Use a camera or an app with a time-stamp so you have proof for your insurance company. Make sure you have an insurance company and that your policies are up to date and cover you for hurricanes or other related storm events like flooding and tornadoes. Clear your property. Secure all outdoor items that could start flying around in high winds and don't underestimate those winds.

Nearly 35 million people hit the road for Memorial Day weekend each year, according to AAA, with close to 1 million of those on Virginia roads alone. Eddie Ballard, of Newport News, is confident that his 1996 Ford Ranger, which boasts an odometer that reads 192,500 miles, will get him where he needs to go. He is a master at keeping old cars running - he also has a 10-year-old Honda Odyssey with 170,000 miles. He says he learned his mechanical skills out of necessity by watching others work on cars when he was a teenager.

Police have arrested a Portsmouth man and charged him with stealing batteries from school buses and attempting to re-sell them. MIlton Harvey Hoover, 40, is charged with grand larceny, as well as larceny with intent to sell and destruction of property. Police spokeswoman Jan Westerbeck said officers were called early Monday morning to the 2700 block of Victory Boulevard with reports of several damaged school buses. A total of 20 batteries had been removed from 10 school buses, with the cables being cut. Westerbeck said the damages were estimated at more than $3,000.

Battery maker Evercel has begun production in Newport News, making a new kind of battery for sport fishing. Evercel, owned by Fuel Cell Energy of Danbury, Conn., moved into a vacant 97,600-square-foot building in Oakland Industrial Park in July. The building had been vacated a year earlier by the Philip Morris tobacco company. After three solid months of bringing new workers on board and moving new equipment into place - two tasks still far from complete - Evercel last week shipped its first Evertroll, the new zinc-and-nickel battery.

The British supergroup Yes performed at Nissan Pavilion on Sunday night, and apparently the group's 35-year-old keyboardist was not on his best behavior. Prince William County police say Igor Khoroshev sexually assaulted two female security guards working backstage at the concert. A 26-year-old woman who was not identified told police that Khoroshev sat on her lap during a break and tried to put his tongue in her mouth. When she tried to repel his repeated advances, the musician sank his teeth into her neck, leaving a nasty red mark, she said.